1
Created by haiku and tanka poet ai li 25 years ago as a simple, logical, poetic form for telling a story, cherita (plural cherita) is the Malay word for story. A cherita consists of a single stanza of a one-line verse, followed by a two-line verse, then finishing with a three-line verse. It can be written solo or with up to three poets. It is untitled.
2
The inverted cherita or cherita terbalik can vary the order in which the sections come:
[3–2–1], [2–1–3], [1–3–2], [2–3–1] and [3–1–2]
3
The cherita is a delightful form to use, not unlike haiku in its purity but less confined in scope. There are no syllable limits nor other prohibitions. The line-breaks and space between the verse-lets subtly affect the way the words are read. Have a go! Post them…
4
Examples:
(one by ai li)
1
rain has arrived
1
every window pane is wet
you bake his favourite cake
2
cherry madeira
and call memory
in for tea
And one from me
1
a relict rose
1
autumn shivers
on a wall
2
she will shrivel
tumbling in
indifferent snows
4 Comments on “Conversation 97: The Cherita A Form To Explore introduced by Keith Evetts”
The Andalucian mare, sniffed the air, the riders were coming.
In the mélee she caught the smell of her Sunday rider. She approached the mare carefully murmering endearments in Spanish.
The Sunday rider stroked the mare’s long nose, while breathing gently, imperceptibly into her nostrils. The mare whinnyed gently, she liked this human, they connected on a different level. Sunday rider led the mare to the stables’ mounting block, stuck her feet into the coal- shuttle shaped stirrups, gathered the reins and urged the mare into a walk – they were off!
love this Connie, so filmic
I love that one too, Connie!
Just a quick comment to say, ai li wanted any cherita that she was going to publish to not be anywhere else except in her book, so i had to delete the cherita i had placed here that Amanda and Keith had commented on. sorry.